


Falling

by edgarallanrose



Series: Check, Please! Prompt Fills [6]
Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Circa Year 3, First Kiss, Fluff, Getting Together, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-04
Updated: 2019-06-04
Packaged: 2020-04-07 20:44:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19092784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/edgarallanrose/pseuds/edgarallanrose
Summary: “So, like, what exactly is happening here?” Nursey asked, still precariously balanced on his desk chair.“Well, Nurse, since you can’t be trusted with existing five feet above the ground, I am going to use the stabilizing rods to make you a safety rail. Like the kinds toddlers have.”“Um, listen Poindexter, not that I don’t appreciate your concern for my safety, it’s kind of like a nice surprise, but a safety rail seriously ruins my aesthetic.”“You’re an English major with a trust fund, Nurse.” Dex held up the rod to the premade slots in the bed frame, testing different positions. “I think a safety rail perfectly fits into that image.”





	Falling

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on tumblr as a prompt fill. pieplease asked: #16 nurseydex PLEAAASE ♥️✨♥️♥️✨✨♥️✨♥️✨♥️✨♥️✨ #16 “Are you hurt?” “No.” “Then why are there bruises all over your face?”

Dex had been late to practice, arriving grumpier than usual with everyone else already in their gear. He rolled his eyes at everyone’s chirps while he rushed to get on the ice. Which was why he didn’t notice Nursey’s face until he removed his helmet when they were undressing afterwards.

“Are you hurt?” Dex asked.

“No,” Nursey said, pausing with his under armour rucked up to his armpits just to raise an eyebrow at Dex.

“Then why are there bruises all over your face?”

Nursey’s face was black and blue across the left side of his forehead and the was a cut over his cheekbone that was a nasty shade of purple. His eye looked a little swollen as well. Dex didn’t remember any bad falls or checks from practice, though the bruises looked a little older than a half hour or so.

“Oh,” Nursey laughed. “Yeah, that.”

“Right,” Dex crossed his arms. “That.”

“Promise you won’t chirp me over this?”

“No, Nurse, I do not promise anything.”

“Okay, fair. You know how I had you help loft my bed the beginning of this semester and you said it was a terrible idea because I would fall out and hit my head?”

“…Uh huh.”

“So. I did that.”

“Nurse.” Dex pinched the bridge of his nose. “Were you completely wasted or something?”

“Is it better or worse that I was stone cold sober?”

“Right, okay,” Dex said, checking the time on his phone as he tugged off his shorts. “Are you going back to your dorm after this?”

“Nah, I have classes this morning. I’ll be done at 1:30.”

“I’ll meet you at two then.” Dex wrapped a towel around himself and headed towards the showers.

“Alright. Wait, why?” Nursey called after him.

“To fix your stupid ass bed.”

\---

That afternoon Nursey let Dex into his dorm and led him up to his single on the second floor.

“Do you still have the rods I used to loft your bed?” Dex asked.

“Yeah,” Nursey said, sitting down in his desk chair and rocking it back. Dex bit his tongue from making another remark about Nursey falling over and cracking his skull open. “They’re in the closet, right where you left ‘em.”

Dex dug to the back of the closet where the metal rods were leaning against the back wall behind Nursey’s clothes, and there were also the tools Dex had loaned him, collecting dust. Dex grabbed the tools and one of the rails, hauling them out of the closet.

“So, like, what exactly is happening here?” Nursey asked, still precariously balanced on his desk chair.

“Well, Nurse, since you can’t be trusted with existing five feet above the ground, I am going to use the stabilizing rods to make you a safety rail. Like the kinds toddlers have.”

“Um, listen Poindexter, not that I don’t appreciate your concern for my safety, it’s kind of like a nice surprise, but a safety rail seriously ruins my aesthetic.”

“You’re an English major with a trust fund, Nurse.” Dex held up the rod to the premade slots in the bed frame, testing different positions. “I think a safety rail perfectly fits into that image.”

“First of all, rude. Respect the humanities. Second, what the hell am I supposed to say if I bring someone back to my room? How are we both supposed to fit up there?”

Dex’s face flushed at the thought, as he tried not to overthink Nurse’s very carefully gender-neutral use of ‘someone’ instead of ‘a girl.’ Dex was grateful that his back was still turned to him because he currently had no control over his facial expression. Thankfully, he could school his voice into its usual exasperated tone.

“The safety rail does not impede the size of the mattress, Nurse.”

Nursey crossed his arms but didn’t comment any further as Dex fitted the first rod into place. The tough part was getting the second part into the slot, since the bed frame was slightly smaller than the rod, which required the tools to hammer it into place. Dex removed the flannel that was hanging over his t-shirt before he went to fetch a second rod.

“Do you do this handyman routine for anybody else?” Nursey asked, seemingly apropos of nothing as Dex lifted his arms over his head to stretch.

“What do you mean?”

“Just showing up in people’s private spaces to fix their shit when they didn’t even think there was a problem in the first place? And literally not taking no for an answer?”

“I’m not sure if that’s a compliment or a criticism.”

“Answer the question, Poindexter.”

“I fix stuff in the Haus all the time. Bitty texts me twice a day about that damn oven.”

“But they ask you to come over and help, right? You don’t just…do it of your own volition?”

“Well, most of the time they ask I guess. But if I notice something out of sorts, I’ll fix it. Why, what are you getting at?”

“Nothin’. But I bet girls would probably think it was a come on. You could totally use this to wheel and up your game, you know.”

Dex spluttered and turned to give Nursey a narrow-eyed look, but Nursey only greeted him with that charming half-smile of his.

Dex frowned. He had to stop using the adjective “charming” for Nurse, even if it was only in his head.

“If I wanted advice I would ask.”

“If I wanted a safety rail I would ask.”

Dex ignored him, finishing by whacking the second rod into place, then making a show of dusting off his hands and pointing to the rail in a ‘tah-dah’ gesture.

“I’ll get out of your hair now,” Dex said, moving the tools back into the closet. “Please don’t find a new way to injure yourself in the meantime.”

“Wait, you’ve gotta let me test it out before you leave,” Nursey said, jumping up from his chair and clambering up the side of the bed. “See if it works.”

“It’ll work as long as you’re not trying to bodily throw yourself off the side of the bed.”

Nursey shuffled along the edge of the bed, laying down flat on his back next to the railing and pressing his side against it.

“How’s it feel?” Dex asked.

“Pretty good,” Nursey said. “It’s hard to tell. Dex, get up here.”

“What? Why?”

“Well I can’t really properly test it until two people are up here. Worst case scenario, you know?”

Dex sighed, but he couldn’t really argue the logic. He climbed up the slotted footholds on the side of the bed, awkwardly tumbling over the edge, shifting slightly so he wouldn’t land directly on top of Nursey. Nursey patted the mattress beside him and Dex rolled his eyes, but laid down at Nursey’s side, the two of them only just managing to squish together on the narrow twin mattress. The sheets smelled overwhelmingly of Nurse, his body wash, the product he put in his hair, spiced, deep, and musky.

It was kind of nice.              

Dex turned to look at Nursey, which was a little awkward with the close proximity when Nurse met his gaze, and he noticed the yellow edges of those bruises again. He almost reached out to touch them, then aborted the movement, letting his hand rest on his own chest.

“You sure those don’t hurt?” Dex asked.

“I swear, they look worse than they feel. I’ve been icing them. I just keep telling people that they should’ve seen the other guy.”

Dex laughed. “Anyone who knows you knows that’s a lie.”

“Not a lot of people know me that well.”

And Dex wasn’t sure what to do with that. He always imagined Nurse, outside of the time he spent with him and Chowder and the rest of the team, as being incredibly popular with lots of good friends. That was certainly the image of himself he promoted and how he acted at kegsters. When Nursey didn’t unpack the statement further, Dex let the subject fall.

“You know I’m much bigger than someone you might usually have up here,” Dex pointed out, wiggling his broad shoulders in the tight space between them.

“Wow, good to know, Poindexter,” Nurse laughed.

Dex blushed. “I meant _taller_ , not – you know what I meant.”

“I did,” Nursey said, rolling to his side and propping himself up on his elbow, looming slightly over Dex. “But I don’t think your size is that different from someone I’d have up here. Or someone who I would want, that is.”

Dex swallowed. “Really?”

“Mhmm. In fact, there’s someone who is uncannily the _exact_ size that you are who, if he chose to come into this bed, I would hope that he’d never leave.”

“Wow,” Dex deadpanned. “That was real smooth.”

“You think so? I was working on that line while you kept flexing to put up these stupid rods.”

“Oh my god, I was not flexing, I was –”

Nursey leaned down to kiss Dex, and Dex only let himself be surprised for a fraction of a second before he tangled his fingers into Nursey’s hair to deepen the kiss further. Then he used his other arm to wrap around Nursey’s middle to pull his body on top of his.

When all was said and done, even Nursey had to admit that the safety rail wasn’t a totally dumb idea. Not when the two of them were going to spending a lot more time together in that loft bed.

**Author's Note:**

> True story: I once made two boys who lived on the second floor of my freshman dorm put safety rails on my loft bed because I heard too many stories about drunk students falling out of their beds and concussing themselves. Stay safe out there, kids!
> 
> If you want to like or share the og ficlet on tumblr, you may do so [here](https://edgarallanrose.tumblr.com/post/185159611555/16-nurseydex-pleaaase), and/or follow me so you can check out the next time I am accepting and posting prompts!


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